Jillian Bell biography

Rough Night

Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, comedian/actress/writer Jillian Bell began studying improv at the early age of eight shortly after she was kicked out of ballet school. While in high school, she started her own improv team and was voted "Most Likely to be Famous." After graduating in 2002, she moved to Los Angeles and became a member of the improv group The Groundlings.

In 2009, Jillian auditioned for Saturday Night Live, a lifelong dream of hers, and although she did not join the cast, she was hired as a writer for the show in the 35th season. However, when her contract expired at the end of the season it wasn’t renewed.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jillian opened up about her time on SNL, and gave some insight to why her contract wasn’t renewed. “I had this hope that I would get to be on the show someday as a cast member. So I never wanted to give away my best stuff. I thought, those sketches are mine and they belong to my heart. I can’t give them away for someone else.”

Shortly after SNL, Jillian bounced back by getting a role on the Comedy Central special Workaholics. The comedy, starring Blake Anderson and Adam DeVine among others, lasted seven seasons. After seeing her work on the show, Oscar-nominated director Paul Anderson cast Jillian in two of his films — The Master (2012) and Inherent Vice (2014).

In 2014, the film 22 Jump Street (2014) helped Jillian become a household name. Other roles for Jillian included a drug-pushing pregnant wife in The Night Before (2015), Lorraine Conyers in the film adaption for Goosebumps, which is one of her favorite childhood book series and Alice in the dark comedy Rough Night (2017), alongside Scarlett Johansson.

Jillian lives in a five bedroom home in Los Angeles with her dog Vallejo, two cats and her sister. In her free time, she likes to participate in escape-room mazes with her friends. She also enjoys playing with jigsaw puzzles and watching NBC’s Dateline.

Jillian soon plans to launch her own clothing line called Neon Witch via her website that will display her love of fashion and humor toward issues such as depression and anxiety.